Talk:1360: Old Files

2014-08-20T06:28:43Z

108.162.246.202:

I notice backup and recovery files. I once had a folder on my father's computer that housed everything I did. When the drive crashed, I managed to recover it and store it to a CD-ROM (this was before thumb drives). I copied everything onto my first computer within my main folder (I don't use My Documents), and I continue to move my main folder into a new main folder each time I migrate between computers. I have so many nested memories. I, too, have incomplete fan-fiction and instant message logs. Oh, and a dream.txt. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 04:47, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

I don't have as much of a problem with the "old files room", because I keep nearly all of my files on my laptop, but my hard drive is almost full. Another hard drive replace the CD drive, but this computer won't last much longer (bye cd drive workaround). I'll have to build an "old files room" sooner or later. [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 05:07, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Back in the... early '90s, I think it was... I recall there being someone like a buddhist monk (or someone ''claiming'' to be someone like a buddhist monk, and the religion could have been something else) who set up an internet site (not necessarily a website) as a temple for "all lost data". The files you had accidentally deleted, the floppies that got damaged or otherwise corrupted, forgotten formats on old drives that you'd lost the wherewithall to access them. Between this and the "hoarder" behaviour exhibitted in the above XKCD folder we encompass ''all'' long-term computer users. At the same time. I know I regret the dead USB sticks (with irreplacable content) and yet I stare in hopelessness at the folders "GStick" and "FStick" within My Documents, that really need looking at again. (No, they don't contain the lost material. Datestamped at 2009.) But they're two of fifty-three separate subfolders (and a helluva lot of loose files) in that level. "WebRedo"? I remember that. That site hasn't even been ''active'' for about a decade. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.224|141.101.89.224]] 06:50, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

;Explanation
I think the point of the comic doesn't come across in the explanation. It's not just that he's sifting through files, but that he's finding files nested deeply in his folder structure that just came to pass because he always copied contents of an old computer to some folder on the next computer and then ignored its contents.

I.e. in his "Documents" folder, there is the "Old Desktop" folder from a previous computer, which contains the "Recovered from drive crash" folder from another previous system, which has another "Mu Documents" folder within, ... etc. The nesting aspect should somehow be integrated into the explanation.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.57|108.162.229.57]] 09:59, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

The shape of the panel is vaguely reminiscent of a hard drive, this may be intentional, being emphasized by the increasing size of the individual layers. In which case there might be some metaphor construed by the placement of the two characters based on their location in the structure of the hard-drive perhaps involving the catalog index. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.35}}

It should be pointed out that the AYB folder is directly referencing https://xkcd.com/286/ {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.211}}

I have done this before on my hard drive(s) and I always find my old qbasic programs. Anyone knows of an emulator for qbasic so I could see my old programs running again? [[User:Bigfatbernie|Bigfatbernie]] ([[User talk:Bigfatbernie|talk]]) 13:56, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

:DOSBox will run QBasic programs if you grab the QBasic 1.1 interpreter from either an old copy of Windows 98 that still has it in its dos utilities folder, or just download it from here: http://www.qbasic.net/en/qbasic-downloads/compiler/qbasic-interpreter.htm [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.42|108.162.219.42]] 17:01, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

:Also, there's this: http://www.qb64.net/ [[User:Runefurb|Runefurb]] ([[User talk:Runefurb|talk]]) 06:14, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Qbasic was "hardwired" in IBM PC's and/or PC/AT's. If the PC did not find some bootable device,
it would start Qbasic from a chip. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.55}}

Anybody know what Citadel is? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.42|108.162.219.42]] 16:58, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
Citadel is historically a BBS package. Today it is an open source groupware system, but some people are still using it as a BBS. Google "Uncensored! BBS" to find a well known one. [[User:IGnatius T Foobar|IGnatius T Foobar]] ([[User talk:IGnatius T Foobar|talk]]) 03:19, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

;Can we get some instructions on how to edit the page?

It makes no sense to me whatsoever, and it's unlike every other page on the wiki. I can find the list we use in the transcript, but I can't figure out how to add the explainations [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.204|199.27.130.204]] 18:19, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

:I did remove that templates from this page, the explain is still very bad — but now you should be able to post your adds. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
: I am the person who added the templates. I figured that on a xkcd wiki of all wikis one should feel free to use some more advanced Mediawiki features, to keep from redundancy (here, repetition of data between the explanation and the transcript)... Oh well. Apparently the definition of "to make sense" is "to make sense to others". Also, semicolons are used for definition lists, not for headers. {{unsigned ip|141.101.89.217}}
:: By the way, the current transcript is wrong. The items listed under "No header" headers belong to the "named" headers on the parallel side. There is no dichotomy like that. If you insist on reflecting the visual layout of the comic in the transcript, I suggest something like this (uncapitalised, unsorted, and unformatted, because it is just a quick illustration):

<table class='wikitable'>
<tr>
<td>
 
<th>
documents <hr>
Megan: "You OK down there?"
<td>
 

<tr>
<td>
* misc.txt
<th>
old desktop
<td>
* video projects

<tr>
<td>
* facebook pics
<th>
recovered from drive flash
<td>
* pics from other camera
* temp
* misc pdfs
* mp3

<tr>
<td>
* temp
<th>
my documents
<td>
* work misc
* audiobooks

<tr>
<td>
* downloads
* ayb
* ev override
* angband
* kazaa shared
* gigs
<th>
high school zip disk
<td>
* fight club.wmv
* aim direct connect files
* elasto mania
* 4chan
* icq logs

<tr>
<td>
* lovenote.txt
* gorilla.bas
* aol
** citadel
* nyet
* jokes.txt
<th>
aaafiles
<td>
* korn midi
* photos3
** prom
* dream.txt
* james.txt
* qbasic

<tr>
<td>
 
<th>
txt <hr>
Cueball: "Oh my God. I wrote poetry."
<td>
 
</table>
:{{unsigned ip|141.101.89.217}}
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:07, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
:: Thank you! In fact, I just noticed that rows didn't reflect one filesystem level! They should be moved one level up. I will fix that (and capitalise and sort the labels.) {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.89.212}}
::: Done. {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.89.212, too--I really don't like this insistence on signing}}
::::The unsigned template contains instructions on how to properly sign your posts. If you are against signing for privacy reasons, at least use five tildes (<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>) to mark off each of your messages as distinct comments. Your IP is logged anyways by Mediawiki, but casual observers will not see your IP. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:41, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
::::Uh, little question. I just read the source, and the html for your table contains no closing tags. Do you have something against them or something? Also, I removed the bullet points when I added the table to the transcript because strictly speaking, the comic doesn't actually contain any bullet points, so we're adding punctuation that isn't present in the comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:54, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

;Unsigned IP's producing a great chaos here. No READER does UNDERSTAND. Please keep it simple as possible, NO new template for a single comic. I will bring back some edits I've done, respecting edits have done later. But right now I can't see there is any proper attempt to do an explain other could understand.
:Please focus FIRST on the readers here, then focus on possible editors (don't understand), and then tell a new IP how to behave here. It's not my invention, but please try to keep this page at a basis on some standards. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Actually, the "AIM Direct Connect" is in reference to the file sharing system that the AOL Instant Messenger used to use. A quick Google would have found that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 22:20, 26 April 2014 (UTC)Slacker

:First thanks for your hint, but please add comments at the bottom here. I did update many items and I'm not perfect. I will enhance this after this post. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:34, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
::I can't figure it out, maybe you have a better hint. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:42, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
:::Whup, sorry about that! I'll remember that in the future. For better reference on AIM Direct Connect: https://adium.im/help/pgs/AdvancedFeatures-AIM-DirectConnect.html I'll see if I can add a better explanation to that above! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 00:05, 27 April 2014 (UTC)Slacker

Gorilla.bas is a qbasic game distributed with DOS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillas_(video_game)
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.129|173.245.53.129]] 22:29, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

:Thanks for your hint, why do you not add this by yourself? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:34, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
::Done. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:42, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

I would like to know more as to why it would be awkward to find ANIMORPHS-NOVEL.txt, and why you would delete that from the archives... I was not alive during that time so i dont have a clue as to what it is... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.212|108.162.250.212]] 12:55, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
:''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animorphs Animorphs]'' was a series of young adult books whose publication was apparently contemporary with Cueball's high school years. Many people later find the interests, opinions, etc that they had as teenagers to be embarrassing. This is especially true of fanfiction, which combines the above (in all its earnest, blind infatuation with the subject) with early, inexperienced attempts at writing. As with the poetry found in the very bottom layer, Cueball would probably prefer to pretend he was never so invested in (''Animorphs'') fandom, never wrote something so juvenile/amateurish/terrible, and almost certainly would not wish to share it with any of his adult friends. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.202|108.162.246.202]] 06:28, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Last night I added the comments about geological rock strata & how files are buried in the way sedimentary layers are. It was my first contribution to explain xkcd so I wasn't sure what the protocol was but adding a comment here. - J. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 03:08, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

This is a perfect example of why *nix filesystems are superior to DOS filesystems. {{unsigned ip|108.162.212.200}}

Are the concentric circles to scale? The 94MB looks roughing 10x bigger than the 9.4MB, but after that the bubbles start going off the panel and I'm not sure. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.179|173.245.54.179]] 20:38, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1397: Luke

2014-07-21T18:14:16Z

108.162.246.202: /* Vibrate? */ new section

Vader: *turns fleshlight on* An invisible blade? That is quite interesting. I should build one of these myself. (Alternately, ''I find your lack of blade disturbing'')[[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 05:55, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

What are these "connection to previous comic" things? They seem random and arbitrary. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.205|199.27.133.205]] 06:15, 21 July 2014 (UTC)
:There usually seems to be a point of contact with the previous comic. That a connection is usually there means it probably isn't coincidental but is part of the ingredients for making each new comic. So yes they do seem random and arbitrary because the content of the connection doesn't mean anything. The point is just that every comic is connected to the previous comic. The explanations of the connections may be incorrect. I thought I'd put these connection sections in to see how people feel about having a regular connection section. [[User:Rfvtg|Rfvtg]] ([[User talk:Rfvtg|talk]]) 06:33, 21 July 2014 (UTC)
::It may be a good idea, but I see no connection, just a lame pun. There usually dorsn't seem to be much of a connection anyways.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.130|173.245.48.130]] 07:14, 21 July 2014 (UTC)
::I don't think there's a real connection. I think that you're finding arbitrary segues, because you can segue between just about any two topics if you try. Try this - pick two random xkcd, and see if you can't find a "connection". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.209|108.162.249.209]] 11:57, 21 July 2014 (UTC)
:::I agree. This is the most stupid idea I have seen here on explain. Please remove them again. Thay make no sence and spoils the nice look of this great page. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:37, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

Anyone want to mention that this is probably referencing is a weird quirk of the films? We never see Luke construct a lightsaber (unless I missed something), and it's easy to assume that it's actually... I think Ben Kenobi's or Yoda's, maybe (for prequel enthusiasts) even Qui Gon's... After all, if Obi kept Anakin's, maybe he'd also keep Qui-Gon's, and any others, and end up leaving at least one green sabre on the Falcoln. Anyway, my point is, Randall noticed that this line of dialogue isn't really explained, and Luke is probably going along with Darth's assumption to save face... And then took the awkward situation to new heights. I can't tell if I'm being a total idiot here or if I'm on to something. Or option three, it's something glaringly obvious but needs a mention to explain the comic in context [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.234|141.101.99.234]] 10:29, 21 July 2014 (UTC)
:Vader would probably recognize his mentors' lightsabers at first glance. Yes, it could be another unknown dead Jedi's saber, but it just as likely that Luke constructed one of his own, given he does not react in an obvious way to the suggestion. (Ignoring the Star Wars EU, which probably details exactly how Luke constructed the device.) Besides, we are shown Kenobi's, Yoda's and QG's lightsabers in the movies.[[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 11:39, 21 July 2014 (UTC)
:There exists a deleted scene from Star Wars VI that shows Luke building his new lightsaber: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ayT0EZwbks] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.53|108.162.254.53]] 13:45, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

This comic reminds of Vader's Little Princess and Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.183|141.101.104.183]] 13:48, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

== Vibrate? ==

Fleshlights don't vibrate do they?

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1360: Old Files

Talk:1397: Luke